For years during travel I have carried a laptop which I use to download camera images using a USB card reader and then upload the image files to a small external USB hard drive.

I would like to replace the laptop with a light weight tablet.

Are there any tablets on the market or connectors that would let me give up carrying the laptop and use a tablet to connect on the download side with my camera CF and SD cards and then upload to a USB small external hard drive?

Many of the Android based tablets with a USB port can do this. I recently got an ASUS Transformer Infinity (plus keyboard dock) as a lightweight travel device. It has a built-in SD card slot, works with my Lexar memory card reader, and works with portable USB hard drives.

I just did the whole thing with a MS surface pro.
i5
full OS. full multitask.
USB3 port
micro sdxc slot holding another 64GB card
128GB ram with 70GB left over for review and transfer with a reasonable regiment of software.
keyboard cover (optional)

I added a 4 port powered (external power) hub so when available I can setup a full I/O from card to external drive direct while doing other things. it is optional.

supports all the card types I use (3) and is able to control the cameras remotely.

before diving in look at the newer Asus ultrabook coming towards the end of march. it will not be cheap. regretfully android based and ios based systems are short on capability and growth potential though relatively cheap.

now though my setup only does do 85% of my computing needs and the weight reduction was about 70%

Thanks for the suggestions, sjms. Your Surface Pro certainly has impressive capabilities for its light weight.

I've have started looking at the new RT and Pro from MS, although they seem to somewhat duplicate what I already have with my Toshiba Portage--but a good bit lighter. I'll certainly check out the new Asus ultrabook when it hits the market and gets some reviews although the "Zenbook" is heavier than what I want.

It may be that the RT is the perfect solution for me--given its light weight at 1.5 lbs and ability to transfer image files between card reader and external drives. Wish it had a full size SD card slot which would probably give faster transfer times than using the USB port for a card reader. The Pro is certainly impressive but I don't need its extra capabilities. Just need something light weight to get email via WiFi and view/transfer image files between SD card and external drives for backup.

I don't know about the pro , but my bro in law and my father in law both got themselves the RT when they were in the states on the day it came out.

My bro in law is a programmer and was writing a book on app development for win8 .
And to hear him today say he wants to throw the thing at the wall most of the time really surprised me. But then having had a quick go on my father in law's RT a few days ago I wanted to hit the thing as well .
It looks a great device , and probably with a proper keyboard (and mouse sometimes) on a flat surface it looks like it does the job. But I found the onscreen keyboard to be a total pain. I'd have it pop up to type something and the then when I wanted it to go away I found that IE had reduced itself to a window above where the keyboard was (it did not fill the screen again) . And other times it would think I've rotated the unit and go from landscape to portrait (when all I did was adjust the way I was sitting or move the unit so someone else could see) but when the screen went back to landscape the IE window was a small box.
20mins with it and I got so annoyed with it I gave up . And went and got my iPad out of the car to much hurumphing for my father in law who just thinks the pad is a big iPhone that's good for nothing.

I will give the surface some credit though. The memory card slot is a big bonus and something I would have willing paid extra for on my iPad . Infact if they said the top line iPad was still 64gig but with an SD slot (that allowed full use of) but its the same price as the new 128gig version I think it would be the better buy

that's pretty much the way i feel about the ipad I had and the fractured world of android and the less then adequate apps out there for both. the on screen KB on the RT for me is easy to use as there are a few choices. and I guess the people programming on my side are getting used to it with some support.

the only change I made to its os was the addition of a $5 program called start8.

as usual its a matter of taste and getting used to each tools functional niggles.

the RT portion is of limited functionality (at this point) for my uses but is a reasonable front end to launch my most used programs in full win 8.

its the simplicity of that one USB3 port that makes a world of difference for me vs a proprietary one (ios/ipad). and that the programs involved are already in my possession and paid for (vs trying to find and purchase new ones)

I do like multitasking. and the pen input too.

working in RT with the virtual KB is as easy as pie at least for me.

by the way you can put any OS you want on the surface/surface pro too.

now is your bro in law developing for RT or Win 8?

Actually I'm on line through the RT portion typing this now on the screen.

there are sites/programs that don't work in IE10 in RT but then ios has a few issues too in that realm. like iTunes movie previews and I have to admit of the few ios programs I did use they were pretty trick. hopefully time will tell. all those go away in full win 8 though.

I looked at tablet options last year, but I did not find any that I felt fully met my needs. So I went with an ASUS Zenbook Prime, not much heavier that a tablet, and has a 13.3" IPS HD Screen. My only issue with it is lack of Hard Drive space, it has a 128Gb SSD and alot of bloatware.

I download pictures across to an portable HD that hosts a temporary Lightroom Catalog allowing me to work the images if I have time. I also backup the Catalog to a second portable HD for safety, and keep my CF Cards intact (as long as I have enough). One week in Jordan and I was down to my last 3 8Gb Cards. Filled 32Gb x2, 16Gb x4, and 8Gb x2.

Images can be downloaded to an iPAD using the camera connection kit - either USB with a card reader (I have a D4 and use XQD or CF) or the SD adapter if your camera uses them. For additional storage, the new Seagate Wireless Plus drive holds 1 Terabyte, and can download files wirelessly from the iPad Camera roll. Also take a look at the Photosmith app for integration with Lightroom.